Los Angeles history

Paul V. Coates--Confidential File

I've been presenting, for the past few months, weekly missing persons
cases on file with local sheriffs and police. Each started with a
living, active person, surrounded by apparent normalcy.

Next came the disappearance. And last, the search--into the subject's background, personal habits, likes dislikes, associates.

On investigation, the missing person nearly always becomes a very known quantity.

Today, however, comes the switch.

To start, go back to the afternoon of April 7, 1957, when four boys
were scrambling along the brush incline of the Crestmore Cement Co.
property, three miles west of Riverside.

They were on their way fishing, but their plans met sudden interruption.

They stumbled upon a body. And they went, instead, to the Riverside County sheriff's office.

That was three months ago.

Immediately sheriff's investigators determined that the victim had been
dead about three weeks. And that cause of death was a gunshot blast in
the chest.

Two days later, when enough data had been collected, an emergency all-points bulletin was sent out.

The victim was described as male white American, late 20s or early 30s, 5 feet 10 inches, 160-170 lbs.

It was determined that the victim had brown hair, but the body's
advanced state of decomposition left the color of eyes and complexion
unknown. No discernible scars or moles could be found.

There was also broadcast, however, the description of physical evidence at the scene:

The victim wore a white T-shirt and blue Wrangler pants. He wore socks
but no shoes. Wrapped around his head was a pink military-type shirt. A
bed pillow had been placed on his chest and then the entire body had
been wrapped in a white muslin sheet and a green chenille bedspread.

Brown electric light cord bound his head and feet. A small braided rope was wound around his waist.

So where's the clue?

Riverside sheriff's deputies, directed by Det. Cmdr. Robert Presley, began a patient investigation.

From the start, they knew it would be a tough one.

Clue by clue, they attacked it.

CLOTHING: No laundry marks. In
the pink shirt there was a ballpoint pen with the words "Cisco Ice
Blower Service, Cisco, Tex." A check with the sheriff of Eastland,
Tex., revealed that some 800 similar pens had been distributed by the
company, mostly to truck drivers.

FINGERPRINTS: Lab tests showed that the victim's hands had been encased in cloth containing lye in an effort to destroy prints.

But eight out of 10 prints were established and print copies were
immediately circulated locally, at the state level, to the FBI, to
Canada. No luck.

MISSING PERSONS: Local and
state bureaus were checked. Hotels and rooming houses were checked to
see if a guest had departed without notice, or possibly leaving some
property behind around the 17th of March. Local papers published the
victim's description. No response.

TEETH: The following description was included in the all-points bulletin:

Some evidence of pyorrhea. Dental restorations appear to be well done,
carved and finished. Space between the upper front teeth. Upper left
first molar is an alloy in the mesial and distal pits. Lower left
second molar has an occlusal buccal filling. Lower right first and
second molars have occlusal fillings. One huge cavity upper right third
molar.

Such information will possibly serve well later for positive identification after tentative identification is made.

"A false dental plant solved one for us last year," Lt. Presley told
me. "Through it, we identified the body of a woman 13 months after we
discovered it.